I have gone through about a dozen recordings all on Panasonic 83 ME tapes (all new) with a new XL1s. I have noticed some distortion (horizontal banding) staggering the recorded images, quite noticible, lasting a fraction of a second.

Don't seem to be any pattern to timing of these glitches or location on tapes, but occurs at least three to six times on a tape.

Is there something wrong with these tapes? Should I run new tapes through the camera on FF and RW before I use them, as I read in some video mag. Is there any possibility of the problem with the transport or recording head in the camera?

Yes, fast forwarding and rewinding is a good habit to get into. It evens the tension on the tape, smooths out the position of the tape and allows any loose particles to fall off (avoiding drop outs). I would try a shorter length tape and see if the problem persists.

Thanks, Jeff, will try out your suggestion with shorter tape. Will also try recording over a section with distortion and see if distortion happens at same spot. If so, then it may be that tape has bad sections, which would be annoying but better than if the camera has some faults.

If any other suggestions for finding out source of problem, would be appreciated.

I don't know how many people watched the MTV Music awards last night but I was captured by the new film kind of look on several of their cameras. Any chance that they might have been using Canon Xl1s for the shots. I sent in a question to MTV asking what camera they used for that show ( hope i get reply back).

I have been asked to shoot some video for a friends short movie,
Either a sony pdf-150 or Canon XL1s, and i am almost positive it will be the canon will be used.

He wants to do a very rap music clip style effect where there is a very very very apparent distinction of distance to the camera.

I am not refering to a shallow DOF, i mean like in a rap video they are usually dollying accross with a rapper leaning back and forth towards the camera and it is incredibly noticable, the imagine has an almost 3d like quality, but focus looks almost like it is set to infinity.

I assume this is done with extremely wide lenses, but i am not 100% sure how it is done... he is making a sci-fi movie and wants the set to have a very non-flat look and a very apparent depth, some of this will be lighting, but i am sure their are some lense tricks needed too.

It depends on the connection on your computer. The IEEE1394 connection on your camera is a 4 pin connection, a 6 pin, which is found on most 3rd party capture cards/interface cards is a rectangular USB looking connection that is rounded on one end.

It's a good idea to have one of each in your production kit as you never know when you migh need to connect to one or the other.